I have heard such comments after lots of seminars for good and bad papers. In my field, many seminal pieces of research were rejected time and time again before finally making it into print. Short term impact does not always equal long term impact.


Original iPod announcement thread at MacRumors - Signal vs. Noise (by 37signals):

Original iPod announcement thread at MacRumors Jason 28 Feb 2006

I love this:

I still can’t believe this! All this hype for something so ridiculous! Who cares about an MP3 player? I want something new! I want them to think differently! Why oh why would they do this?! It’s so wrong! It’s so stupid!

gee! an mp3 player with a HD! how original! kinda reminds me of a JUKEBOX i once knew.

I’d call it the Cube 2.0 as it wont sell, and be killed off in a short time…and it’s not really functional.

All that hype for an MP3 player? Break-thru digital device? The Reality Distiortion Field is starting to warp Steve’s mind if he thinks for one second that this thing is gonna take off.

There are already two products similar to this on the market. The Nomad Jukebox and the Archos which can come with a 20 gig HD. The iPod is obviously a lot cooler and has firewire, but it is far from revolutionary. I for one am disappointed and think that apple is making a mistake by trying to get into this market.

Apple should have just listened to their customers and never released the iPod.